Cartons made from cardboard or similar materials are widely used for storing food and the like. The cartons are typically formed by assembly of corresponding carton blanks through a series of folds to provide the required carton shape defining an interior void for the containment of the item or items to be stored.
A problem, however, is to ensure that the assembled carton retains its form to provide a useful store. For example, if the carton is not effectively fixed in its assembled form, then one or more component sections of the carton, such as flaps, panels, tabs, etc., may intrude into the interior void, thereby significantly reducing the storage capacity of the carton, and weakening the structural integrity thereof. This problem has been addressed, for example in WO 98/01351 which describes a package assembled from a blank of cardboard or similar material and having end walls formed by flaps and intermediate flaps folded and glued to one another to maintain the form of the assembled package. The end walls are assembled using at least four folding steps, i.e. at least four end wall components are sequentially folded. EP 0814025 describes a box assembled from a blank in which the end walls of the box are formed by main end surfaces and a number of auxiliary end surfaces that are folded and mutually glued. Again, the end walls are assembled using at least four folding steps.
The present invention provides an alternative solution to the aforementioned problem.